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Originally Posted by Ladogaboy
The driveshaft is well over 40 lbs, and entry-level replacements knock almost 15 lbs off of that (high-end replacements drop the driveshaft weight down to about 10-15 lbs).
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You're not going to see much decrease in rotational inertia from changing driveshaft weight, though. Remember that the inertia is the product of the mass times the distance from the axis of rotation, and a driveshaft is long & skinny.
Same applies to wheel+tire combos. It's possible that a lighter weight wheel+tire would actually increase the rotational inertia, if it put more of the weight further from the hub.
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If a 3,500 lb car is traveling 55 mph North bound and then must take a corner that shifts the direction East or West bound (still at 55 mph), wouldn't that require more energy than just a 5-10 mph acceleration?
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Well, does it? Surely you've gone around curves while coasting: does it slow you down?